Leominster councilors zero in on police site

The Leominster City Council is mulling various options to replace the police station at 29 Church St.
SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / PETER JASINSKI

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LEOMINSTER -- It's been nearly a full year since the City Council was presented with possible options for creating a new police station at a city-owned Lancaster Street property, and a decision is yet to be made. But council President David Cormier said the project could soon gain new momentum.

That momentum might now carry the Leominster Police Department to Lancaster Street.

"If we're really serious about doing something, we could spend all of 2017 preparing, possibly buying land, and get the project going by 2018," Cormier said. "Hopefully we'd have a new, functional police station by late 2019."

Cormier said he plans to organize a meeting, possibly this month, of the council subcommittee he created to oversee the process.

Mayor Dean Mazzarella says there are "four or five" properties within a quarter-mile of downtown Leominster that the city could develop into a new police station.
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In October 2015, Mayor Dean Mazzarella visited the council with representatives of an architectural firm that had drafted two designs of a possible new police station that could be built at 210 Lancaster St.

The two plans -- one costing $22.7 million, the other $23 million -- entailed renovating the former school at the site. But the project's architect also presented a third option: constructing an entirely new building from scratch at a separate location.

At the time, the architect had estimated that the new-construction option would cost about $26.4 million, with $3 million of that cost dedicated toward purchasing new property.

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While councilors initially didn't agree on whether building at Lancaster Street would be a good idea, discussion on the project waned as other issues began taking their attention -- specifically, granting permission to nonprofits trying to open medical-marijuana dispensaries in Leominster.

"We had a lot of questions at the time, but then along came the medical-marijuana debate, which consumed a lot of our time," Cormier said.

The Leominster City Council is mulling various options to replace the police station at 29 Church St. The building is about 60 years old.
SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE / PETER JASINSKI

Sentinel and Enterprise staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site.

He explained that he arranged a meeting with the mayor to discuss the new police-station project once the council had made a decision on the medical-marijuana applications during its Sept. 12 meeting.

With dispensary applications out of the way, Mazzarella attended the council's Sept. 26 meeting to see what councilors' thoughts were on building a new station.

"I haven't stopped working, and I've continued to look for sites in case the council says they want to buy a new one," Mazzarella said after the meeting. "Now's probably a better time than any to sell 210 Lancaster St., as the market is good."

Although unable to say where a new building might be built, Mazzarella said there are "four or five" properties within a quarter-mile of downtown Leominster the city could develop.

"Some of them have buildings on them, but most would have to come down. One is maybe possible," he said. "Some of them might require eminent domain, either friendly taking or unfriendly taking, so the council has to be ready for that."

Mazzarella also said he wouldn't necessarily be opposed to still using the Lancaster Street property, though he said he wants to have a better idea of what the council would want to do with it first.

"I can't put a lot of energy into something without knowing what the council wants to do," the mayor said.

So the Sentinel & Enterprise asked councilors their thoughts on a new station:

Ward 1 Councilor Gail Feckley

"At first, I was open to investigating whether 210 Lancaster would be an optimal facility for the police, but it turned out the price of renovating that building would be about the same as building a completely new station," Feckley said, adding she would be concerned that renovating the old building on Lancaster Street would lead to more problems.

Ward 2 Councilor Wayne Nickel

"I could never get excited about moving the police from a 60-year old building on Church Street to a 100-year-old building on Lancaster Street," Nickel said. "Just buy some land, build a building and get it over with."

Ward 3 Councilor David Cormier

"I'm certainly open to the option of a new building, but where we're going to do it is the real question," Cormier said, adding that he would want to make sure the city recouped what it spent on the Lancaster Street property if it were to be sold.

Ward 4 Councilor Mark Bodanza

"While a retrofit of the old building is technically possible, there doesn't seem to be a consensus on it," Bodanza said. "A new site seems like a leading contender here. I'd say that's what I'd like."

Ward 5 Councilor Richard Marchand

"I'm for a brand-new building in a different location," Marchand said, referring to the newly built station in nearby Gardner as "spectacular."

"Lancaster Street seemed like a viable option, but it just doesn't seem viable with the community there," he said.

Councilor-at-large Claire Freda

"I want to see something done, but I could honestly go either way," Freda said. "I personally think a new station would make more sense, but if it means a lot more years to find a site and get the financing together, then I'll go with Lancaster Street if it can be done right."

Councilor-at-large John Dombrowski

"We bought Lancaster Street with a police station in mind, then people started shying away from it. I think it could be done, but if there's a better site available, I'd also be in favor of that," he said.

Councilor-at-large James Lanciani Jr.

"I'd vote for something that's completely new. The mayor, it seems, is looking to build a completely new station, and I'm all for that," Lanciani said.

Councilor-at-large Sue Chalifoux Zephir

"Whether or not a new site makes sense is based on whether the city can recoup what it's already spent on the building at Lancaster Street," she said. "If it would still work, I would be in favor of doing Lancaster."

Paying for it

While a majority of the council appears to be in favor of building a police station at a new location, the next issue that might divide it is how the city would go about funding the project.

Mazzarella said the council would most likely have to be prepared to vote for a tax increase to pay for a new station. Lanciani, Marchand, Cormier, Bodanza and Nickel all said they would at least entertain the possibility of raising taxes for the project.

"We are going to be retiring some debt in 2018 with the library and we could roll that over into the police station. I think obviously there will be some kind of tax increase, but it will likely be less expensive than it would have been a few years ago when less debt was paid off," Cormier said.

Feckley and Chalifoux Zephir were less inclined to saying they would rely on tax dollars.

"It would depend on the magnitude of the increase and what the city could put up and what we have for free cash," Chalifoux Zephir said.

As for the Police Department's current station on Church Street, interim Police Chief Michael Goldman said "it makes it harder to serve the public, I think, to the level we would like to be at, but we still get the job done very well."

Goldman explained that some of the most necessary additions he'd like to see at a new station would be intended to improve relations with the community. Changes he referred to included more private rooms for interviewing victims and a more user-friendly lobby with public restrooms.

He also said any new station would be compliant with the American Disabilities Act, which he said the current station does not comply with.

"We don't have an elevator, we don't have handicap bathrooms, we don't have handicap access," he said.

As the city continues to search for a new home for the Leominster Police Department, Mazzarella has already begun to consider possible future uses for the current station on Church Street.

"I think the Fire Department could make some use of that, maybe to provide training. We could leave it as a substation if the police aren't as close to downtown," he said. "There's always the chance of tearing it down for more parking too, but we just haven't got there yet."

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